


the history books all have it wrong

by saveourtiredhearts



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Steve Rogers was a Socialist, and im sticking to that characterization of him, and maybe a tiny bit ooc, but bruce can be just as sarcastic and funny as tony sometimes, i kind of forgot about thor in this one, misremembered history, sorry about that, steve doesn't quite trust his memory, the avengers are a little offputting here, wow steve rogers is kinda sad in this one too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-09
Updated: 2016-02-09
Packaged: 2018-05-19 06:09:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5956539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saveourtiredhearts/pseuds/saveourtiredhearts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not the first book Steve's read about himself. It's more like the fifth, and it carries the same errors as all the others. There are words missing, conversations ignored, memories twisted.<br/>But if the books are all the same--<br/>Maybe he's the one that's wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the history books all have it wrong

“I don’t understand,” says Steve, and the Avengers, scattered in various positions around the living room, all look up. “Is this a joke?”

He’s wearing blue jeans and a white t-shirt. His hair is mussed, his cheeks red, his eyes bright. In his right hand, he’s brandishing a book.

“It’s a biography,” says Tony slowly. “Of you.”

“Yes,” says Steve impatiently. “I know that. You said you thought it might be funny to have me read about myself. It’s not _funny,_ Tony, especially when it’s all _wrong._ Who the hell wrote this goddam thing?”

Tony gasps. “Captain America cursed!” he shrieks. Steve rolls his eyes.

Bruce, however, has an answer.

“Alexandra Garfinkel,” he says. “And she’s a serious author. She wouldn’t make a joke out of--” He pauses, looks to Tony. Tony throws up his hands.

“I didn’t mess with it!” he cries. “I didn’t even read it! I just bought it because it was the nicest looking Captain America book on Goodreads _._ ”

Steve frowns, and not just because he doesn’t know what Goodreads is. “Why would she--” he starts,and then shakes his head, throws the book on a nearby table in disgust.

“Why do you think it’s a joke, Steve?” asks Natasha carefully. Steve, who was about to leave the room, turns back to his rapt audience with a furrow in his brow.

“It’s wrong,” he says, and then, helplessly. “The books, on me--they're _all_   wrong _.”_ He grabs the book off the coffee table, flips through it. “There’s nothing about my dad, or the nuns at the orphanage, or the socialist meetings, or the--” 

“Hold on, the what?” at least three of the Avengers say at the same time.

Steve dismisses this confusion with a wave of his hand. “I mean, that’s not even important, there were a ton of people going to socialist rallies back then, it’s just that--”

“Socialist rallies?” says Tony, his voice stretching to higher pitch. “Captain America went to _socialist rallies?”_

Steve looks up. “ _Steve Rogers_ went to socialist rallies. And you would have too, if you were dirt poor like we were, Stark. Class struggle, equal distribution of wealth, better wages and working conditions for laborers? I was all for it. So was Bucky, although he wasn’t as concerned about it as he was bringing home an actual wage at all.” Steve says this last part with a bit of a huff, like he’s at once annoyed and grateful to his long lost friend.

“Captain America, a socialist,” says Clint wonderingly.

“See? I’m not the only one having trouble with this!” protests Tony.

Steve marches on in his complaints.

“We became friends because Bucky saved me from a beating when we were really young, but our mothers knew each other before that. Bucky had five sisters, not four, it was just that one _died_ a few hours after she was born. And that mission to save the 107th was never sanctioned! Where are they getting this from?”

Tony blinks. “What do you mean the saving of the 107th wasn’t a sanctioned mission?”

Steve looks up. “It wasn’t,” he says slowly. “Howard never told you--”

Tony laughs darkly. “Dear old dad never told me shit, pretty boy.”

Steve looks a little taken aback. “But--he’s the one who _flew_ me there.”

Tony's jaw drops. “He did _what?”_

“I was touring with the USO stage show, and we ended up crossing paths with--with what was left of the 107th.” Steve visibly swallows. “I didn’t know--they booed me offstage, but I didn’t--Peggy told me. And Colonel Phillips said he wasn’t launching a rescue mission, they were too far behind enemy lines, but _Bucky_ was part of the 107th. I couldn’t leave him there.”

“So you asked Howard Stark to fly you over enemy territory, and he said yes?” Tony asks.

Steve shakes his head. “Peggy asked, actually. I was, um--I was going to drive over enemy lines. On my own.” He shifts uncomfortably as the team gapes at him.

“They said a lot of things about Captain America in Russia, but they never mentioned he was an idiot without a scrap of self-preservation,” murmurs Natasha to Clint beside her. Steve turns a bit red at this.

“Wait!” says Tony suddenly. “Did the fondue conversation take place during this insane plane trip?”

Steve looks deeply uncomfortable. “So he told you about that part,” he mutters. Tony whoops with laughter, and falls off his chair. “That’s not in the book either,” Steve adds.

Tony, choking on laughter, manages to splutter, “I wish it was!” before giving in entirely to his hysterics.

“Anyway,” says Steve loudly. “They have the mission down as sanctioned, which it was most _definitely_ not. Colonel Phillips actually-”

“So you’re just not going to tell us the fondue story?” asks Clint, seemingly to both Steve and Tony.

“ _Fondue,”_ whispers Tony, before dissolving back into silent sobs of laughter.

“I know the fondue story,” says Bruce.

Steve groans. "Bruce, don't."

Bruce just grins wickedly, and turns to the Avengers.

 

Steve’s not sure why he tried to explain it to his teammates. It’s not something that can be explained, really. It’s just, well--

There are words missing.

Steve doesn’t want to be labeled as a narcissist, but the truth it, _The Man Behind the Shield_ by Alexandra Garfield isn’t the first book he’s read about himself. It’s more like the fifth. And it carries the same errors as all the rest, the errors that Steve pointed out to his friends.

He didn't leave the book in the living room when he departed, not wanting to listen to a highly embarrassing story. He took it with him.

And now he stares at it, in the half dimmed light of his bedroom. He can see it just as well as ever, can make out the photograph on the cover with absolute clarity, can easily read the small black text inside.

But he’s gone over it enough to know that no matter how hard he wishes, no more words will show up.

The problem is, there’s no one left to validate what he remembers. The fondue story is true because Tony says it’s true, because Howard told Tony the story, but what about the stories that only Steve knows? He can see all the memories in his mind’s eye, and yet--

In that alley, that alley where Bucky saved him for the first time, was there writing on the wall? Or was there a different fight? He can’t recall the exact way Dum Dum angled his bowler hat on his head, just knows that he always adjusted it a different way for the press. He doesn’t remember Falsworth spouting on and on about his dreams for England, or Gabe speaking fiercely about the plight of African Americans. What he does remember is their solemn faces and the effort they all took to stay away from words of destruction when that was all that surrounded them.

The books don’t talk about the way Bucky shook, sometimes, after he was captured. They don’t talk about the conversations the Commandos had--in pairs, in trios, in one group--about what they would do when they got out of the war. If the war ever ended.

They certainly don’t mention the times they got so drunk they could barely walk out of the pub, or the times they had no choice to interrogate HYDRA soldiers, or even the lighter moments. There are stories lost, whispers between soldiers lost in a terrible war that have seemingly floated off and disappeared forever.

And if all the books are the same, then--

Maybe it’s Steve who’s got it wrong.

After all, it has been seventy years.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, swing by my [tumblr](http://yourblueeyedboys.tumblr.com) for a grand ol' time!
> 
> Also I wrote this in maybe twenty minutes, so if there are any mistakes, or something doesn't make sense, please let me know.


End file.
